KPHO-TV
'''KPHO-TV is the CBS affiliate television station in Phoenix, Arizona. Its transmitter is located on South Mountain in Phoenix. It broadcasts locally over-the-air in digital on UHF channel 17, identifying as channel 5 via PSIP. KPHO extends its signal throughout Northern Arizona by way of more than a dozen translators. It is owned by the Meredith Corporation. History KPHO is Arizona's oldest television station, signing on December 4, 1949, originally with the call sign of KTLX. It is not known when the station changed its call sign to the current KPHO. As the only television station in Phoenix during the first three-and-a-half years of operation, it carried programming from all four networks of the time: CBS (primary affiliation), NBC, ABC and the now-defunct DuMont. NBC disappeared from KPHO's schedule when KTYL-TV (channel 12, now KPNX) signed on April 23, 1953, followed by ABC when KOOL-TV (channel 10, now KSAZ-TV) signed on a few months later, on October 24. KPHO remained a dual CBS-DuMont affiliate until February 28, 1955, when CBS moved its affiliation to KOOL-TV after KTVK (channel 3) signed on and took the ABC affiliation from KOOL. KPHO became an independent station when DuMont ceased network operations in 1956. During the late 1950s, the station was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. The station was originally owned by a group of entrepreneurs -- one of whom, John Mullins, would later launch KBTV (now KUSA-TV) in Denver, Colorado. The Meredith Corporation purchased the station in 1952. As an independent station, channel 5 programmed a schedule of movies, off-network series, and a nightly newscast at 9:00 p.m.. It also produced The Wallace and Ladmo Show, a children's show which aired weekday mornings from 1954 until 1989 (when it was decided by the stars of the show that it would end). During the 1970s, KPHO became a regional superstation available on cable in much of Arizona and New Mexico, as well as parts of California, Utah and Nevada. KPHO was the sole independent English-language television station in Phoenix until 1979, when KNXV-TV (channel 15) signed on with general entertainment during the day and subscription TV at night. (KNXV became a full-time general entertainment station by 1983.) Even though KPHO was the leading independent station in the market, the new Fox opted to affiliate with KNXV in 1986 after the E. W. Scripps Company purchased the station, promising to upgrade its syndicated programming and to launch a newscast. Although it never did begin a newscast, landing the Fox affiliation made KNXV a very strong competitor against KPHO. The CBS affiliation returned to KPHO in 1994, when a massive shift in network affiliations occurred in the market in the wake of KSAZ taking the Fox affiliation. Initially, KPHO continued to run a number of sitcoms during local time, but the station gradually added more newscasts and talk/reality shows, with the sitcoms being phased out and moved to KTVK, KUTP, and KASW. On February 24, 2009 it was announced that KTVK, KPHO-TV and KPNX will share a helicopter starting March 1, 2009. On March 14, 2009, KPHO became the fourth station in Phoenix to switch to high definition. On April 1, 2009, Fox Television Stations and E. W. Scripps Company announced the creation of the Local News Service model in the Phoenix, Detroit and Tampa Markets. The service pools news gathering efforts for general market news events. Each station provides employees to the pool service in exchange for the sharing of video. KPHO-TV signed on to the Phoenix LNS model shortly after the announcement. Programming KPHO is a typical CBS affiliate, clearing the entire network schedule and airing five hours of local news daily, complemented by syndicated fare and paid programming. KPHO airs one hour of local news at 5 PM, so the CBS Evening News is shown at 6 PM instead of 5:30 PM, when most CBS stations in the Mountain Time Zone air the network news. Better Arizona, a national daily lifestyle program, features locally-produced inserts. Digital television Digital channels Prior to 2009, a 5.3 subchannel was added for NCAA tournament coverage, with analog channel 5 breaking from 5.1 in order to create coverage of all four games. KPHO switched its analog broadcasts to a digital nightlight service at 11:59PM on 12 June, 2009, just minutes before the end of the day mandated by the Federal government for TV stations to cease analog transmissions across the country. KPHO continues digital broadcasts on its pre-transition channel number, 17. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display KPHO-TV's virtual channel as 5. KPHO's analog channels will, for 30 days after the switch to digital, serve as a "nightlight" station to remind TV viewers of the switch to digital. Notable personalities Current Anchors * Catherine Anaya, 5, 5:30, 6:30 & 10 PM Anchor/Reporter * Chris Coraggio, Morning & Midday Anchor * Nicole Crites, Morning & Midday Anchor/General Assignment Reporter * Kent Dana, 5 PM Anchor/Reporter * Greg Gurule, Weekend Anchor/Reporter * Sean McLaughlin, 6:30 & 10PM Anchor Current Reporters * Jason Barry, General Assignment Reporter; Substitute Anchor * Sarah Buduson, General Assignment Reporter; Substitute Anchor * Peter Busch, General Assignment Reporter * Jeff Butera, General Assignment Reporter * Steve Filmer, General Assignment Reporter * Lisa Leigh Kelly, General Assignment Reporter * Tammy Leitner, 5 Investigates Reporter * Morgan Loew, 5 Investigates Reporter * Donna Rossi, General Assignment Reporter; Substitute Anchor * Marcy Valenzuela, General Assignment Reporter; Morning Co-Anchor/Time Saver Traffic Helicopter Pilots/Reporters (As part of a Local News Service the helicopter is shared with KTVK and KPNX and operated by Helicopters Inc.) * Scott Clifton * Jimmy Castanza * Tammy Rose Sports * Eric Sperling, Weekend Sports Anchor * Chris Coraggio, Morning News Anchor/Sports Reporter CBS 5 Valley Pinpoint Weather * Steve Garry, Meteorologist (AMS Certified) * Paul Horton, Morning & Midday Meteorologist and General Assignment Reporter * Chris Dunn, Chief Meteorologist * Randy Kollins, Substitute Meteorologist Past news personalities News/Station Presentation Newscast titles *''Today's News'' (1950s) *''News in Focus'' (1950s) *''3-Star News Report'' (1950s) *''Eyewitness News'' (1970s) *''Channel 5 News'' (1980s) *''News 5'' (1980s-1990s) *''Arizona 5 News'' (1990s-1996) *''CBS 5 News'' (1996-2000 and February 2004-present) *''TV-5 News'' (2000-July 2002) *''News 5'' (July 2002-February 2004) Station slogans *''5'll Getcha'' (late 1970s) *''5 is the Place'' (early 1980s) *''First in Arizona'' (mid 1980s) *''Local, Live, Latebreaking'' (c. mid-late 1990s) *''Welcome Home, Arizona'' (mid 1990s; localized version of CBS ad campaign) *''Be in the Know with KPHO'' (late 1990s) *''Your Valley News Station'' (2002-2003) *''Live, Latebreaking, Investigative'' (2004-present) Digital subchannels On December 20, 2006, KPHO began broadcasting CBS 5 Weather Now on digital subchannel 5.2. CBS 5 Weather Now is located on Cox Communications digital channel 85, Qwest Choice TV channel 64, and CableOne. Rebroadcasters KPHO is rebroadcast on the following translator stations: * K29EC Blythe, California * K11OB Bouse (broadcasts on channel 6) * K11LX Bullhead City * K55IY Camp Verde * K30GG Chloride * K40AD Cottonwood * K43GU Dolan Springs * K53DL Duncan/Clifton/Morenci * K50HU Flagstaff * K59CI Globe/Miami * K41FT Kingman * K43GJ Lake Havasu City * K47HE Meadview * K09KV Prescott * K21FU Topock/Bullhead City References External links * KPHO * * * * The Official Wallace and Ladmo Website (History, Photos, Desktops)